Parasite definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

View all »
Definitions (24)

American Heritage Dictionary (4)

noun Biology An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
noun One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.
noun One who lives off and flatters the rich; a sycophant.

1 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (17)

Originally, one who frequents the tables of the rich and earns his welcome by flattery; hence a hanger-on; a fawning fiatterer; a sycophant. I will despair, and be at enmity With cozening hope; he is a fiatterer, A parasite. Shak., Rich. II., ii. 2. 70. Outstript thus by a parasite! a slave, Would run on errands, and make legs for crumbs. B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 4.
Specifically In zoö., an animal that lives in or on and at the expense of another animal called technically the host; also, by extension, an animal which lives on or with, but not at the expense of, its host: in the latter sense, more precisely designated inquilince or commensal (see these words). There is scarcely any animal that may not or does not serve as the host of parasites, and some parasites are themselves the hosts of other parasites. (See hyperparasite.) Parasites form no technical group of animals, since representatives of almost any class or order, from protozoans to vertebrates, may be parasitic. Most of the leading divisions of animals, however, include some members, whether genera, families, orders, or even classes, whose habit is extensively or exclusively parasitic. Thus, among protozoans, the Gregarinida are parasites. Among worms, many families, some orders, or even classes, are entirely parasitic, furnishing the most formidable and frequent parasites of man and domestic animals. Very many of the lower crustaceans are parasites, especially upon fishes, mollusks, etc., and upon one another; while some of the highest crustaceans are modified parasites, or commensals, as the little crabs that live in oyster-shells. Among arachnidans, the whole class or order of acarids or mites is essentially parasitic, though including many forms which lead an independent life. Insects furnish many of the parasites, especially of terrestrial animals, as vertebrates, and some are parasites of other insects. One order of insects, the Anoplura or lice, is thoroughly parasitic, and other orders furnish parasitic families or genera. Insects and crustaceans both belong to the phylum Arthropoda, and it may be said that as a rule insects furnish the arthropod parasites of land-animals, and crustaceans those of water-animals, or terrestrial and aquatic “lice” respectively. Few mollusks are parasitic, but Entoconcha mirabilis, a gastropod found in holothurians, is an example. Very few vertebrates are parasites, but hags (Myxine) bore into fishes, fishes of the genus Fierasfer crawl into the intestines of holothurians, and some other fishes exhibit a kind of parasitism. Parasites not constituting any natural division of animals, it follows that, as such, they are not naturally divisible into zoölogical groups. They are, however, conveniently called enloparasites or ectoparasites, according as they live in or on their hosts, or Entozoa and Epizoa, upon the same grounds. According to the extent or degree of their parasitism, they are also known as parasites proper and commensals or inquilines (see above). Among the most remarkable parasites are the males of some species which have their own females as hosts, as among cirripeds. Such males are known as complemental males, one or more of which are carried about by the female in her vulva, they being of insignificant size and to all intents and purposes mere male parts of her. The above-mentioned parasites are exclusive of all those many animals which are parasitic upon plants, as gall-insects and the like; and also of those birds which are parasitic to the extent of laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, requiring their progeny to be hatched and brought up by foster-parents, as cuckoos and cowbirds. See cuts under Cecrops, Entoniscus, Epizoa, Platypsylla, and Stylops, Particularly, an insect which lives either upon or within another insect during its earlier stages, eating and usually destroying its host. Such parasites belong mainly to the Hymenoptera and to the Diptera, but there are a few coleopters and lepidopters to which the name may be applied. See cut under Antigaster. In botany, a plant which grows upon another plant or upon an animal, and feeds upon its juices. See parasitic, and cut under Cercospora. Fungi have long been divided into two main sections founded on their nutritive adaptation. Those which constitute the first category feed on living organisms, whether plants or animals, and are termed parasites. De Bary, Fungi (trans.), p. 356.
In teratology See autosite.

14 more from this dictionary »

View all »
Examples (50)

Sure, the water looks clear and pretty up here, but most of it is contaminated by Giardia lamblia — a parasite which is guaranteed to give you a bad case of the seven-day trots. — The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner
I had contracted giardia, an intestinal parasite -- probably from the wine. — rediff.com
Nov 28, 2007 | not rated yet | no comments yet The malaria parasite has been studied for decades, but surprisingly, little is known about how it behaves in humans to cause disease. — PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories
That threatens Israel's existence as the parasite, — The Truth Will Set You Free
Norfolk's beekeepers are spearheading the fight against a parasite which is wiping out honeybees. — EDP24 News

More examples »

Add a related word »
Related

Used in the Same Context

bacteria · insect · worm · pest · virus · infection · microorganisms · vermin · mosquito · microbe · fungus · germ

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Latin parasītus, a person who lives by amusing the rich, from Greek parasītos, person who eats at someone else's table, parasite : para-, beside; see para-¹ + sītos, grain, food.

Century Dictionary (1)

from French parasite = Spanish parásito = Portuguese parasito, parasita = Italian parassito = G. Swedish Danish parasit, from Latin parasītus, masculine, parasīta, feminine, from Greek παρασιτος, one who eats at another's table, a guest, especially, in a bad sense, a parasite, cf παρασιτεῑυ, eat With another,live at another's table, from παρά beside, + σῐτος, food.

parasite

View all »
Definitions (24)

American Heritage Dictionary (4)

Century Dictionary (17)

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (2)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Word Family

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Century Dictionary (1)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

parasite

View all » Definitions (24)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

synonyms:

cross reference:

synonyms:

Etymologies (2)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (24)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »